A Cinderella Story
by Egs
Summary: Cinderella's surprised by a revelation from her stepmother. Contains adult content. Was originally one shot, but I've updated and am working on chapter 3. Writing it I'm basing it on the 2015 movie but there are the reader is free to picture any version
1. Chapter 1

Cinderella was sick. That was obvious. Even her stepmother was concerned.

"Are you all right, child?" she asked when Cinderella came in to wake her up ,"you are white as paper."

Cinderella looked at her with surprise. Her eyes were dark and tired, her face chalk white. She looked exhausted.

"Yes," she whispered and promptly ran into her stepmother's bathroom to vomit. Lady Tremaine held her hair back while she retched. When she was done, her stepmother washed her face with a clean washcloth. Cinderella's whole body trembled, but whether it was from being sick or the surprisingly kind touch of her stepmother she wasn't sure.

Lady Tremaine helped her up. "I'm sorry, Step-Madame," Cinderella rasped hoarsely. "It's my…I'm…I have my….well, you know. I'm not contagious. I can still do my chores. Except maybe cooking."

Her stepmother snorted. "So you can throw up on everything every ten minutes? I don't think so. Besides, missing a few days won't hurt anything. Maybe the girls can take a stab at cooking. Heaven knows they could handle learning some skills."

Cinderella looked up in shock. Her stepmother never said anything negative about her daughters. "Stay in here," Lady Tremaine said, gesturing to the bed. "I don't want you fainting on the stairs to your room." Cinderella looked ready to faint. Due to the nausea, she had barely eaten anything for days and her already thin body was looking dangerously gaunt.

"Thank you, stepmother," Cinderella whispered as she crawled on to the bed. She must be really sick to have her stepmother be so uncharacteristically kind to her. She wondered what her stepsisters would think.

She heard the stepsisters grumbling and her stepmother shushing. She bolted to the bathroom again to vomit twice more before finally being able to sleep.

Hours later, Cinderella woke up. She was still pale and nauseous but less so than before. She tried to get up but got too dizzy. The room spun.

She flopped back down, wanting to get up but unable to. She glanced around, wondering if her stepmother had anything interesting to do. Normally, she wouldn't dare going poking through her stepmother's things and she still didn't. Looking around, she saw a leather bound book. _Les Miserables_ was its title.

She won't mind if I read a little, Cinderella thought and opened it to the beginning, careful not to lose her stepmother's place.

An hour later, Cinderella was still deeply into Jean Valjean's story and jumped nearly a foot when she looked up to see her stepmother standing beside the bed with a cup of tea.

"How are you feeling?" her stepmother asked, smirking. "Well enough to steal my book, I see."

"I wasn't stealing it," Cinderella protested. "I was just borrowing it!"

Her stepmother handed her the cup of tea and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. Cinderella was much smarter than her own daughters, though she would never admit it. It might be nice to have someone to connect with on a level that went beyond the inane interests of Anastasia and Drusilla. And Cinderella was so beautiful. Beauty, brains and angelic. What a combination, her stepmother thought with another smirk.

Cinderella blushed as she sipped her tea. She felt like she had committed some unforgivable crime. "I'm feeling better," she said hoarsely. "I only threw up twice after you left. Would you like me to make dinner?"

She tried to get up again without waiting for a reply, but once again the room began to spin. She collapsed back on the bed. Cinderella looked up at her stepmother with apologizing, pleading dark eyes. She expected Lady Tremaine to smack her or throw some stinging comment at her but she didn't. She did the last thing Cinderella expected.

"Do you like that book?" her stepmother asked, a sneer in her voice. Cinderella didn't miss it. She looked at her stepmother with wide eyes. She was smirking at her, but there was genuine curiosity in her blue eyes. Cinderella sighed. She was such easy prey.

"Yes…" she answered quietly. "But I am beginning to get too dizzy from reading."

Her stepmother looked at her steadily for a minute as if considering something. The she got into bed next to her, took the book out of her trembling white hands and began to read it aloud to her.

Cinderella was flabbergasted. Her stepmother was showing her more kindness in one day than she usually did in a month. She wondered why and worried when it would end.

Cinderella felt her eyes getting heavy again. Unconsciously, she snuggled closer to her stepmother, resting her hand on Lady Tremaine's arm. "I love you," she breathed before falling asleep.

Lady Tremaine looked down at the pale, scrawny child sleeping beside her. She felt a pang of guilt for always being so hard on her stepdaughter, so strict with her. Her own daughters were vapid nitwits and she was well aware of it. But Cinderella was special. Smarter than Anastasia and Drusilla put together and ten times prettier. Not a mean bone on her body. Lady Tremaine wanted to get her own daughters married and out of the house as fast as possible so she could finally get some quality alone time with her beautiful, brilliant angel of a stepdaughter.

"I love you too, angel," Lady Tremaine whispered as she covered Cinderella with a blanket. She tenderly ran her long fingers down Cinderella's shoulder and back before getting up. Dinner had to be made for her beastly daughters.

The ball was two days later. Although Cinderella was feeling a bit better, she was still nauseous and weak. More than once she had seen her stepmother looking at her when she thought she wasn't looking, concern etched on her face. All Cinderella had eaten in the past few days was a cup of apple sauce and a few cups of broth, but that was an improvement from the ginger water, which was all she had been able to keep down before. Her stepmother insisted she take it easy, but Cinderella was going stir crazy. She was finally allowed to do some sewing but nothing else. Anastasia and Drusilla were forced to clean for the first time and they were not pleased about it.

"Stupid sick Cinderella!" grumbled Anastasia as she washed the dishes.

"Mother making us clean!" agreed Drusilla as she dried. "Like servants!"

"At least we get to go to the ball tonight," Anastasia said as she rinsed some glasses. "Cinderella doesn't. She doesn't seem to want to even. She must really be sick to not care about meeting the prince."

Drusilla shrugged. She had been scheming on ways to meet and marry into the aristocracy for years and at last had her chance.

"There they go," Lady Tremaine said later that evening as she watched the carriage carrying the girls trot off to the palace. Cinderella stood in front of her, still pale and thin. Her stepmother stood behind her, holding her up.

"Are you disappointed you can't go?" she asked her still sick stepdaughter. There was a trace of a mocking in her voice but not much.

Cinderella shrugged. She was still exhausted and had barely eaten anything in the last few days. Her pale skin and gaunt, exhausted face would not exactly entice the prince. She had never been on a date, barely had even talked to a boy. She would be scared out of her mind meeting the prince. Besides, the person she really wanted to spend time with was behind her.

"I'm not up to going this time," she answered.

"There will be other balls. In fact-"

"Look!" Cinderella interrupted excitedly, "a shooting star!"

"Make a wish," her stepmother told her without a hint of sarcasm. Cinderella blushed slightly, glad it was too dark for Lady Tremaine to see.

"Another one!" Cinderella shrieked. "Look at them all!" She was so genuinely excited and looked better than she had in a week her stepmother didn't have the heart to make some sarcastic comment.

Cinderella leaned back into Lady Tremaine and wrapped her arms around herself. Without thinking, Lady Tremaine bent down and kissed the fair head. Cinderella looked up at her in surprise. Her stepmother smirked down at her.

"It's the Perseid meteor shower," Lady Tremaine told her stunned stepdaughter. "Beautiful isn't it?"

Cinderella nodded.

After a while Cinderella was nodding on her feet. Her stepmother helped her into bed.

"Thank you," Cinderella whispered as her stepmother pulled a blanket around her.

"For what, child?" her stepmother asked, looking down at Cinderella with a trace of a smirk.

"For being so kind to me while I've been sick. I always thought you hated me, but now-" Cinderella stopped, tears welling in her eyes.

"Silly girl," Lady Tremaine said as she pulled the trembling Cinderella into her arms. "How could I hate you? How could anyone?" She stroked Cinderella's hair with one hand and kept the other around the thin body.

"Anastasia and Drusilla do," Cinderella sobbed. All those years of heartache were pouring out

"They don't hate you, Cinderella, they're just jealous. That's why I had to be so hard on you, so they didn't suspect."

"Suspect what?" Cinderella asked, looking up at her stepmother with tear filled blue eyes.

"How much I actually love you."

Cinderella was too stunned to reply for a minute. "You-I..what?" she stammered. "You love me?"

"Don't be so surprised," her stepmother said. "You're beautiful, you're brilliant, you're an angel. How could I not love you?"

She pushed Cinderella on her back and hovered above her. She smirked down at her stunned stepdaughter. "Don't you love me too, Cinderella?" Her smirk deepened, for she already knew the answer.

Cinderella looked into the blue eyes of her stepmother, trying to figure out what to say. Then she sighed and said yes weakly.

Lady Tremaine kissed her stepdaughter's forehead, then her ear. She slowly and softly kissed the pale neck as she slid one hand under Cinderella's head.

"Are you still on the rag?" she asked.

Cinderella shook her head.

Lady Tremaine smiled, the kindest smile she had ever given her stepdaughter. She lay down on top of Cinderella and kissed her full on the mouth. Then she pressed her lips to her neck again, slowly planting soft kisses up Cinderella's neck to her ear. She caressed Cinderella's fair head and smiled again.

"It's okay, honey. You can tell me to stop. Do you want me to stop?"

"No," answered the quivering Cinderella.

"Shall we take this off?" Lady Tremaine asked and began unbuttoning Cinderella's pajama top. She ran her fingers over the small breasts lightly, then took off her own top. "Here, go ahead," she said, placing her stepdaughter's hands on her breasts. "Touch them."

Cinderella blushed furiously. She ran her hands over her stepmother's breasts and squeezed the nipple. Their eyes met. "Taste them," her stepmother ordered her. "You wanted to be treated like my own daughter. I need to breastfeed you. Kind of, anyway."

She cradled Cinderella so her head was under her chest. Cinderella shyly took one of her stepmother's breasts in her mouth and sucked it softly. Lady Tremaine rolled her head back and sighed. "Good girl," she murmured, holding Cinderella's head. "Just like that, baby."

Their eyes met. Lady Tremaine pushed Cinderella back on the bed and lay on top of her again.

"Off," she said, pulling at Cinderella's pajama bottoms. Cinderella lifted her hips so her stepmother could pull them off her. She lay underneath her stepmother in her underwear and nothing else.

"You're shaking," Lady Tremaine observed. She kissed Cinderella's forehead then her hairline. "You can tell me to stop if you want."

Cinderella smiled, one of her rare angelic smiles. "Don't stop. It's just…it's my first time."

"You'll be fine," her stepmother replied, kissing her on the mouth. She pulled the underwear down Cinderella's thin legs and off. She pushed her legs apart and slid a finger inside her beautiful stepdaughter.

Cinderella dug her fingers into her stepmother's back and moaned.

"You feel me inside you?" her stepmother teased, kissing her neck. "You like it?"

Cinderella groaned in reply.

Lady Tremaine tried to slide in another finger. Cinderella screamed. A scream of agony.

"Yow! That hurts!"

Lady Tremaine removed one finger and felt Cinderella again. She was so tight….Lady Tremaine looked down, confused. Her daughters were always telling her Cinderella wanted to go to the village to meet up with boys…of course... they were lying. Trying to get Cinderella in trouble. She didn't want to tell Cinderella she had believed them.

"Cinderella, sweetheart, when you said it was your first time…did you mean _ever?_ "

Tears streamed down Cinderella's pale face. "Yes. I was embarrassed to tell you."

Lady Tremaine kissed Cinderella's tears, then her forehead. "Don't be embarrassed. Everyone has a first time. Are you sure you want me to be yours? It's such an important step in your life."

Cinderella gave her that angelic smile. "Yes. I want you to…," she blushed and looked away.

Her stepmother looked at her with a combination of smirk and genuine smile. "Can I do this?" she smirked, kissing Cinderella's ear and running her fingers over the small breasts. She kissed Cinderella's neck.

"You can do anything you want to me," Cinderella whispered. She kissed her stepmother's cheek as she kissed her neck, soft slow kisses that made Cinderella moan and arch her back and wrap her thin legs around her stepmother's long ones. She bent her finger inside her stepdaughter and ran her thumb over her clitoris.

Cinderella screamed again, another scream of agony. "Ow-ow-ow! That hurts like-" and she said a word that her stepmother never thought the girl would ever say.

"You are tight as a drum, girl," her stepmother said, not completely unkindly. "Here, let's try another way."

She positioned herself on top of Cinderella so their cores aligned and thrust. Cinderella clung to her stepmother, digging her nails into her back. Lady Tremaine kissed her neck, holding her head with one hand and the sheets for leverage with the other. Even though she had had sex many times before, this was the first time she actually felt like she was making love. Making love to my stepdaughter, she thought, as her clitoris massaged Cinderella's.

Lady Tremaine shook and came, collapsing on top of her stepdaughter. "Feel me on you?" she whispered, "my body in and on you?"

Cinderella nodded, still rather bewildered by what had happened. Her stepmother stroked her thin body. Cinderella smiled up at her. "I love you," she said hoarsely, kissing her stepmother's cheek. Her stepmother kissed the side of her head.

"Love you too, angel," she said. "My angel, my Cinderella. God, how I love you."

She kissed Cinderella's small breasts, down to her stomach. Cinderella felt like her insides were melting as her stepmother planted soft open mouth kisses on her pale stomach. Her stepmother pushed her legs apart and kissed her there, kissed and licked and sucked. Cinderella felt like she was under water. It was surreal. Her clitoris was between her stepmother's lips, being sucked on. It was Cinderella's turn to shake and moan and come.

Lady Tremaine crawled back up to the head of the bed and pulled her exhausted stepdaughter into her arms. "You're trembling," she commented.

Cinderella hid her face against her stepmother's shoulder. She trembled more violently. Her stepmother had taken her virginity, she had given it to her. Lady Tremaine stroked her back and hair until she calmed down.

Cinderella fell asleep, her head on her stepmother's chest. Her stepmother stroked her fair hair long after Cinderella had fallen asleep. Her stepmother kissed her head and whispered, "my angel."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A brilliant ray of sunshine lit up Lady Tremaine's bedroom. Lady Tremaine was already awake, holding her sleeping stepdaughter. The sun lit up Cinderella's blond hair like a halo, giving her an almost ethereal appearance.

Lady Tremaine looked down at her sleeping angel, running her long fingers through the blond hair and down the thin back. She had deflowered the girl the night before. She knew Cinderella would be fragile and confused today. At least she didn't have to worry about her biological daughters, who were still at the ball. It was so far away they had spent the night in the castle, which the King had arranged for the young ladies traveling from afar.

Cinderella began to stir. Her dark eyes fluttered open and she smiled sleepily up at her stepmother.

"Morning," she smiled and began to disentangle herself from her stepmother's limbs.

"Morning, angel," her stepmother replied, watching her glide to the bathroom. After Cinderella answered nature's call, she headed for the door to make breakfast.

"Cinderella." Her stepmother only said her name to make her whip around, as if she had been lassoed. She looked at Lady Tremaine with wide eyes, the color drained from her already pale face.

Her stepmother beckoned her back. "There's no rush. I'm not ready to get up and the girls are still gone. Lie down." Cinderella obediently got into bed. She laid her head on her stepmother's stomach. Lady Tremaine stroked her hair. They lay quietly together, enjoying the peaceful moment of closeness.

"What's wrong, angel? You're trembling again. You don't regret last night, do you?"

Cinderella tightened her grip around her stepmother. "No. It's just that….I was thinking. What is going to happen when Anastasia and Drusilla get back? Are you going to treat me like you did before?"

Lady Tremaine felt a pang of guilt stab her heart. "I'm going to have a talk with the girls. I am going to tell them we are all going to do our part from now on and that they are to treat you decently."

Cinderella kissed her stepmother's hand. She remembered the last time Lady Tremaine had treated her with a bit of kindness. It had been after her father died. She had been sitting outside, shattered, lost in thought and staring into the starry sky. Her stepmother had come out and nearly given her a heart attack when she called her name. Cinderella had been crying, her eyes red. Lady Tremaine had also been crying. Both had been glad the other could not see that. Neither had said much; Cinderella was too exhausted and Lady Tremaine too heartbroken. She had held the devastated child for a while as she cried, then had her lie down, her head on her lap as she stroked her hair. Cinderella fell asleep with her head on her stepmother's lap. She woke up next to her stepmother in bed, comforted by the sight of her.

"What are you thinking about?" her stepmother asked.

"I was just thinking, that after everything that has happened, that you were the one that took-"

Lady Tremaine sat up and pulled Cinderella up with her. Her sapphire eyes looked directly into Cinderella's dark ones. "Ella-." Cinderella jumped slightly at the use of her real name.

"I did not _take_ anything. You _gave_ me your virginity. I asked you several times if you wanted me to stop and you didn't."

Cinderella nodded. It was true. She _had_ given her stepmother her virginity. She didn't regret it, exactly, but she didn't quite know how to act around her stepmother now. She was still intimidated by her, but also very taken with her. A wall that had been between them was gone now.

Her stepmother kissed her head, then climbed on top of her. She smiled another of her genuine kind smiles, not the teasing smirk Cinderella was used to.

"Beautiful girl," she whispered as she kissed the blond hair. She kissed lingering soft kisses on Cinderella's neck. Cinderella arched herself into her stepmother's long body. She was suddenly very aware of her stepmother being on top of her, so close, pressing her into the mattress.

"You're trembling again," Lady Tremaine observed. "Are you that scared of me?"

Cinderella shook her head. Intimidated, infatuated, in love, yes. But scared? No.

She smiled up at her stepmother and kissed her on the mouth. "I love you. I've loved you since the first time I saw you, when Dad brought you home. "

"I love you too, angel," her stepmother murmured into her hair.

At that moment, Cinderella's stomach gave an enormous rumble. She looked into her stepmother's amused blue eyes and burst into a fit of giggles.

"Come, child," Lady Tremaine said, rolling off her stepdaughter and pulling her up. "Let me make you some breakfast. You've been so sick; you're beginning to look like a starved little sparrow."

Cinderella giggled again. Her stepmother held her hand and led her into the kitchen. "Sit," she ordered. Cinderella obediently sat at the table.

"Hmmm," her stepmother said, her blue eyes sweeping over Cinderella critically. "Hmmm. What to make for you…" She cupped Cinderella's face with both hands and looked down at her intently.

Cinderella didn't dare speak up. Her stomach still hurt and her mind was whirling with a million thoughts about what had happened. She looked away. She couldn't handle those piercing blue eyes boring into her soul like that.

Lady Tremaine grunted in amusement. She put the tea kettle on to boil and put bread in the toaster. Cinderella quietly watched her stepmother float around the kitchen. She was surprised Lady Tremaine knew her away around the kitchen, as the only time she came in was to bark orders at Cinderella.

"Here," her stepmother barked at her after a few minutes. She set a cup of tea and a plate with two pieces of toast on it in front of her bemused stepdaughter. "It's chamomile tea. It will help your stomach."

"Thank you, stepmother," Cinderella answered, giving one of her trademark smiles.

Her stepmother sat down across from her and took her hand. She looked down, concerned that the already thin girl had lost so much weight. Her hand was skin and bones.

"Ella….call me Eleanor. You don't have to call me Madame or Stepmother anymore."

Cinderella looked up, stunned. This was perhaps the biggest surprise yet. Once, several years prior, she had been run more ragged than usual and was very grouchy and tired and dared to call her stepmother by her given name. She had been given a bloody nose for her insolence. After that, she tried to avoid calling her stepmother anything if possible.

It began to rain while they were eating. A gloomy mist surrounded the house. Cinderella looked past her stepmother at the steady rain outside. The sunshine from earlier was blotted out by thick black clouds and gusty winds. "I wonder how the ball was," she mused as she sipped her tea.

Lady Tremaine wondered the same thing. She was hoping that the girls met suitable husbands and she would get to finally really have Cinderella to herself.

"Well," Lady Tremaine said after the dishes were put away, "what shall we do now? I doubt the girls will be able to get home in this." Indeed, the weather had turned very nasty. The rain pounded the windows in sheets, the wind blowing it sideways. Lightening flashed in the distance. The path to town was a muddy, impassible river.

Cinderella smiled faintly. She wondered vaguely if she should risk voicing what she wanted to do. She leaned back on the table and looked out the window, trying to decide if she should ask.

Lady Tremaine walked over to her stepdaughter, whose feet were now glued to the floor. She held her face in one hand and brushed back her hair with the other. "What is it, sweetheart?"

Cinderella looked up into the now genuinely kind face of her stepmother and smiled weakly. "Well…I was just wondering if…if…."

"If what? Tell me, Ella."

"If….you might play the piano for me," Cinderella nearly whispered.

Lady Tremaine's blue eyes widened in surprise. Cinderella usually wasn't allowed in the salon when the girls were having their music lesson. But she always did seem to be hanging around outside the door afterwards, when she played piano alone.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Cinderella said quickly. "It's just…I love listening to you play. You play so beautifully. I love when you play the _Fur Elise."_

Lady Tremaine smirked, as a realization dawned on her. "Yes, child. I'd be happy to."

Hand in hand they walked to the salon and Lady Tremaine played _Fur Elise_ for her enthralled stepdaughter. Cinderella listened, enchanted. It was a shame neither Anastasia nor Drusilla had a drop of their mother's musical talent.

Cinderella applauded when the piece was over. Her stepmother beckoned her over to the bench.

"Your turn," she smirked as Cinderella sat down.

Cinderella looked at her blankly. "My turn?"

"Your turn," her stepmother repeated, smirking even more. "Silly girl, did you think I didn't know?"

Cinderella turned very pale. Her heart began to race. It was true-she snuck as much time with the piano as possible. Her mother had begun to teach her to play before she died, then a governess, so she had known the basics of reading music and playing before Lady Tremaine came along. She played as much as she could when her stepmother and stepsisters were out of the house. It wasn't strictly forbidden, but she thought it wise not to let her stepmother know.

"I can't play _Fur Elise_ ," Cinderella said meekly. "Is it okay if I play something else?"

"Of course," said her stepmother, the smirk still on her face.

Cinderella pulled a student book off the shelf and began to play _Angels have we heard on high_.

"Play another one," Lady Tremaine ordered when she was done. She flipped through the book and set it in front of Cinderella. It was the easier, student version of the end of _Swan Lake_.

Cinderella's hands began to tremble. "This is too hard."

Lady Tremaine laid one hand on Cinderella's. "Give it a try. I want to hear it."

Cinderella played it. Not perfectly, but very well just the same.

When she finished, Lady Tremaine looked at her with the oddest expression.

"How long have you been sneaking around the piano?" she asked.

Cinderella turned even paler, if possible. What little color she had left drained away. Her heart thumped quickly and loudly in her chest. She bit her bottom lip.

Lady Tremaine took the girl's trembling hands in her own. Cinderella's whole body began to shake. She was scared that if she told her stepmother the truth, the old Lady Tremaine would be back. And the old Lady Tremaine would beat her bloody if she knew the truth.

"Tell me, Ella. I won't hurt you, honey."

"Since Dad died," Cinderella whispered. "I didn't tell you because I was scared you would forbid it or beat me if you knew. It is the only thing I remember doing with my mother-my real mother…" Tears began to stream down her pale face.

"You are very good, especially considering you haven't had any real lessons in years," Lady Tremaine said. She rubbed the back of Cinderella's hand with her thumb. Cinderella trembled even more. She was still expecting a smack.

"Look at me, " her stepmother ordered. She reached for Ella's face, to stroke her face and hair. Cinderella flinched backwards, just a fraction of an inch, out of instinct. Usually when her stepmother reached for her like that it was to slap her.

"You don't quite trust me not to treat like before," her stepmother said wisely. Cinderella started to protest but her stepmother put her hand to her mouth.

"I understand. Maybe last night was a mistake." She let go of Cinderella and turned to get up. Cinderella jumped off the bench, nearly knocking it over in the process. She threw herself on her stepmother, clinging to her for dear life.

"Please don't say that," Cinderella said, barely able to keep the tears from coming. "I love you so, so much…." Tears streamed down her deathly white face.

Her stepmother held her for a minute, furious with herself. If only she had treated her stepdaughter the way she deserved from the beginning, she wouldn't be terrified of her now.

"Come, child," Lady Tremaine said, taking Cinderella's hand and leading her out the door. She led her to her chambers and made her lie down on the bed. She lay down next to her bewildered stepdaughter.

"Just relax for a minute." Outside the wind howled and the rain ripped around in sheets. Branches bent at dangerous angles. Lightning and thunder flashed and crashed.

There was no way her daughters would be traveling in this, Lady Tremaine knew.

"I love you, I love you," Cinderella babbled. She rested her head on her stepmother's chest and one hand on her stomach. For the first time in years, she actually felt safe with her.

Lady Tremaine put her arm around Cinderella and played with her hair. Cinderella looked up at her with tear filled eyes.

"You don't quite know how to act around me. You're scared of trusting me, because you think when the girls get home everything will go back to how it was. Is that why you are so jumpy this morning?"

Cinderella tried to protest, but she could tell from her stepmother's face it would be no use. She knew what she said was the exact truth. She sighed.

"Yes…"

Lady Tremaine sighed too. "My poor girl. I wish things had been different. Can you forgive me?"

Cinderella kissed her stepmother's hand and smiled up at her. "I already have."

Lady Tremaine tightened her grip around her stepdaughter. "Such an angel. How can I show you I am trustworthy?"

Cinderella looked up. "It's not that I don't trust you. I love you. I'm _in_ love with you. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have given you…" She blushed at the thought of her stepmother deflowering her.

Her stepmother smirked. "Well, I am glad you've gotten over thinking I took it."

Cinderella giggled. She sat up and took her stepmother's hand. She placed it on her chest, right on her pounding heart. "Feel my heart. That's how much I love you. That's what being with you does to me."

Lady Tremaine sat up too. She felt Ella's racing heart. Neither of them had gotten dressed, but Ella was wearing a baby doll nightie. It was light blue, which made her dark eyes stand out. Lady Tremaine felt her stepdaughter's breasts through the fabric. Ella looked away, blushing. Her stepmother gently took her face so she had to look at her. Her piecing blue eyes bored into Ella's soul, it felt like.

"Don't look away or be embarrassed, angel. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen."

Cinderella smiled shyly. "Thank you, Step-mad-Eleanor."

Her stepmother snickered at that. "Oh Ella, what am I going to do with you?" Her long fingers slid underneath the thin fabric of her nightie as she gently squeezed her stepdaughter's small breasts. She did that for a minute, then pulled it up. Cinderella obediently lifted her arms above her head as her stepmother pulled her nightie off.

"Beautiful girl," her stepmother murmured into her hair as she pulled her close. She ran her fingers over Ella's pale back, cringing with the knowledge that she had put some scars there.

Cinderella kissed her stepmother's shoulder. She looked up at the woman she was both head over heels in love with and greatly intimidated by. She leaned up and kissed her cheek. Her stepmother had beautifully defined cheekbones. Then she kissed her neck, soft kisses, just as the other woman had planted on her neck the night before. She kissed slowly up to her stepmother's ear, and then shakily whispered, "I love you. So, so much."

Her stepmother ran her long fingers down her stepdaughter's bony back, then held her at arm's length. "You're trembling again, Ella."

Cinderella blushed. "I'm sorry. I can't help it."

Her stepmother pushed her back on the bed and lay on top of her. "I'll never hurt you again, angel. Never." She kissed Cinderella softly. Cinderella reached up to hold on to her stepmother's back. Lady Tremaine grabbed her hands and held them over her head.

"I'm going to prove you can trust me," she said, pinning her stepdaughter's hands down. "You don't need your hands for protection." She grabbed a hairband next to the bed and wrapped it around Cinderella's wrists.

"Keep your hands above your head," she ordered, sounding a bit like her old self.

Cinderella smirked slightly, more out of intrigue than fear, although the fear was still on her pale face. "Yes ma'am."

Lady Tremaine smirked back. She stroked Cinderella's side, taking time to rub her thumb against each rib. Her hands brushed against the flat stomach, tracing circles and patterns. Cinderella moaned softly. Her clitoris was throbbing.

Lady Tremaine pulled off her own nightgown. She hovered over Cinderella, her breasts in her face. Cinderella raised her head slightly and kissed the left breast shyly.

Her stepmother lay on top of her again, their breasts pressed together. She reached into Cinderella's underwear and felt her clit.

"My, my, my," she smirked. "What I do to you, eh, child?"

Cinderella smiled. Lady Tremaine pulled her underwear down her legs then just looked at the naked girl beneath her for a few seconds. One finger slid into her already drenched but still tender vagina. She winced.

"Does that hurt?" her stepmother asked, gently moving her finger around. "Tell me. I don't want to hurt you, Ella."

Ella winced again as her stepmother eased her finger a fraction more into her. "A little bit but don't stop. I want you inside me."

Lady Tremaine smiled, a sweet smile for the first time Ella could remember since her father died. She kissed her stepdaughter's neck, softly and slowly planting open mouth kisses.

"You like me inside you?" she whispered into her stepdaughter's ear. "Does it feel good?"

Cinderella moaned in reply.

Her stepmother pulled of her own underwear and wrapped her legs around Ella's waist. Ella tried to put her bound hands around her but her stepmother grabbed them and held them down. She was completely pinned down, at her stepmother's mercy. Lady Tremaine thrust hard, knocking the bed into the wall.

Cinderella wrapped her legs around her stepmother's long ones and groaned. Her stepmother thrust again, even harder. She rode Cinderella, holding her hands above her head, kissing her neck, her face, her mouth.

"Feel me on you?" she hissed in her stepdaughter's ear. "Stepmama's clitoris on yours?" Cinderella clung to her hands and moaned at both the words and the actions.

After a few minutes, Cinderella bit her shoulder lightly as her whole body bucked and shook. Her stepmother collapsed on top of her, still holding her hands.

She hovered over her worn out stepdaughter, then pulled the hair band off her wrists.

"Now do you believe me?" she asked as Cinderella wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight.

Cinderella smiled up at her, her angelic smile that her stepmother loved. "Yes. You will never hurt me again."

Lady Tremaine kissed her forehead. "Never."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The ball, it turned out, was a success. Anastasia met and fell in love with the Royal Chef. Drusilla, met and married a member of the Royal Court. Both were married and out of the house by mid-October.

"There they go," Lady Tremaine said, watching from the window. Cinderella stood in front of her, but she was not watching her stepsisters. She was looking out at the explosion of colors against a brilliant blue sky. Bright orange and red leaves waved in the trees against a sea of blue. It took her breath away.

Her stepmother wrapped both arms around her stepdaughter and held her tight. One hand rested on Cinderella's hip and the other on her stomach, gently stroking it up and down with her thumb. Cinderella sighed contentedly and leaned back against her stepmother.

They stood there quietly for a while, each lost in her own thoughts. Cinderella thought of her stepmother's promise not to hurt her again. She hadn't either, and true to her word had even made her beastly daughters help with the housework. At night, Cinderella snuck into her room. They sometimes made love, but more often did not. It was too risky. Mostly, Lady Tremaine had read to her. She read wonderful books, like _Les Miserables_ and _Anna Karenina_. Cinderella greatly enjoyed the time she spent with Eleanor doing this. Sometimes she would fall asleep while being read to. Often she fell asleep in Eleanor's arms, her stepmother gently caressing her back and head. She woke up feeling loved.

Lady Tremaine kissed the top of Ella's fair head, just like she did the night the first made love. "Well my dear, here we are. Just the two of us."

Cinderella looked up at her stepmother and smiled sweetly. "Just the two of us. Just like when they went to the ball." She looked away, blushing at the memory.

Her stepmother smirked at the memory. "Well child, what shall we do now?"

Cinderella tightened her grip on her stepmother's hands. "Well, um…" she looked outside wondering if she should say what she was thinking.

"What, child? Want me to play the piano again?" her stepmother asked. Cinderella could hear the smirk in her voice.

"No. Well maybe later," Cinderella answered. She leaned her head back and looked up at her stepmother's face. Blue eyes looked at her under squinting eye lids and above a smirking mouth. She smiled shyly. "Want to go on a hike? It's such a beautiful day and we could enjoy being together for real."

Lady Tremaine's blue eyes widened in surprise. "A hike?"

Cinderella took her stepmother's hand and pulled her towards the door. "Yes," she replied happily. "There's a place I like to go that looks out over the water. It's not too far. It's where I get flowers for the table in the summer."

Her eyes glowed with excitement. She wanted to share her secret sanctuary with her stepmother. It was a special place, one she had never told her stepfamily about. In the summer when she noticed they needed flowers she would tell her stepmother she was going to get some and then return an hour later with her arms full of many different types of wildflowers. Sometimes after she was done with her daily chores she would get permission to go for a walk and return with a bucket of wild blackberries, so sweet they didn't need sugar. When asked where she got them she would always answer they grew near the flowers and were ripe.

Lady Tremaine smiled. "Your secret place, Ella? You never really told me where it was."

Ella blushed. "You never asked. It was where I went…" she didn't finish the sentence. It was where she went when she was overwhelmed or too hurt to deal with her stepfamily for a while. Lady Tremaine felt the guilt stab her heart.

"Ok. Let's go."

Ella pulled her stepmother outside and along the well-traveled path. Hand in hand they walked to the woods. Ella smiled back at her stepmother. "Here. Look up."

Lady Tremaine looked up and gasped. Tree branches entwined of their heads in an explosion of yellow, orange and red leaves against the brilliant blue sky. A circle of brilliant colors exploded around them. The wind blew a few orange leaves down around their heads. One landed in Cinderella's hair, but she didn't notice it.

"Is this it, angel? Is this the place?" her stepmother asked, gently removing the leaf.

"No, it's a little further. But isn't it gorgeous here?" Cinderella smiled up at her stepmother happily. She was genuinely very excited, prancing around like a little woodland sprite.

MY _little woodland sprite_ Lady Tremaine thought. She wished things had been different, that she could have enjoyed this walk with her angel of a stepdaughter years before. _You can't change the past. Just enjoy this time with her._

"Here it is!" Cinderella said happily as she pulled her stepmother into a clearing. Lady Tremaine gasped.

They walked out to the edge of a hill. Below them was the creek, surrounded by trees in all their autumn glory. Red, orange and yellow leaves floated in the water. A few late blooming white Queen Anne's Lace still grew here and there.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Amazed blue eyes turned in her direction. "Ella….this is incredible!"

Ella smiled and reached out for her stepmother. Eleanor sat next to her and put her arm around her delighted stepdaughter.

"It's beautiful from here. But even more when you get closer."

Ella dragged her stepmother down the hill, skidding on her heels. Lady Tremaine crashed into her in a very ungraceful way.

"Really, child, that was-"

"Shhh," Cinderella interrupted. "Look!"

The trees overhead formed a canopy of yellow and orange. Three small waterfalls came together to make a large one, landing in a deep pool.

Ella sat down on a large rock. "I like to swim here in the summer when I get the flowers. They grow a bit further on. But right here is my place."

She got up and hopped around, pointing out various trees and plants that held meaning. Once in a while she saw a squirrel or fish but never another person. It was her secret, special sanctuary.

Lady Tremaine sat down on Ella's rock and watched her stepdaughter with amusement. After a few minutes, Ella noticed how quiet her stepmother was. She looked back at her and saw the amusement and love on her face.

She beckoned her back. Cinderella walked back slowly. She didn't like the look on her stepmother's face. She was looking at her like she was going to be her next meal.

Her stepmother pulled her down into her lap. "You certainly babble when you're excited," she commented with a smirk.

Cinderella blushed slightly. "I just wanted to show you my place. I'm glad it doesn't have to be a secret anymore."

The smirk deepened. Long fingers stroked her back. Cinderella began to get up, only to be yanked back down.

"Relax," her stepmother said as she ran her fingers up and down her back.

Cinderella looked away. "I can't," she whispered. "Not here."

"I'm not going to make you do anything, silly." She kissed Cinderella's forehead. Cinderella sighed and leaned into her, enjoying the closeness. Her stepmother wrapped her arms around the thin body, completely enveloping her. She was glad she was finally able to share her secret place. It didn't have to be a refuge anymore.

Cinderella sighed contentedly and rested her head against Lady Tremaine's shoulder. Her stepmother stroked her arms, gently tracing her fingers up and down the pale skin. She kisses Cinderella's pale forehead and hair. Cinderella kissed her stepmother's hand. Cinderella smiled up at her stepmother.

"If you want, we can come back at sunset. The trees look like they are on fire then."

"We'll see," was the answer.

Eventually, the breeze picked up and it got too cold to just sit there.

"Come, child," Lady Tremaine said, gently nudging her stepdaughter. "It's getting chilly."

Cinderella got up and stretched. Her shoulders, elbows and wrists all popped loudly in rapid succession. Her stepmother looked at her in surprise.

"Good heavens. I didn't know a human body could make that kind of noise."

Cinderella giggled.

The sun was setting when they got back to the house, a blaze of orange and red setting the sky on fire. Cinderella turned around and sighed happily. Her stepmother plopped down on the steps, huffing and puffing.

"You're in better shape than I am, my dear," she wheezed. Cinderella sat down next to her and took her hand.

After she caught her breath, Lady Tremaine reached down and began to pick the pebbles out of the soles of her shoes.

"They have been bothering me," she explained.

"Fear not! I have a tool for that!" Cinderella exclaimed triumphantly. She pulled a pointy, short stick out of her pocket and knelt down at her stepmother's feet. She picked seven rocks out of the left shoe, ten out of the right.

She looked up into amused blue eyes. "Only you would have a stick like that. You were always ah, resourceful."

Cinderella blushed slightly. In the past, her stepmother would have called her peculiar, not resourceful.

"Come, child," her stepmother said as she stood up and took her hand. "We both need a shower." She pulled her upstairs and into her bathroom. Cinderella watched awkwardly as Lady Tremaine stripped down to her bra and underwear. She turned on the water, adjusting it to an appropriate temperature.

"What's wrong?" her stepmother asked, looking at her still fully clothed stepdaughter. "Come on."

Cinderella blushed even deeper. She had never showered with anyone, let alone with her stepmother. They usually made love in the dark. How vulnerable she would feel, trapped in that tiny space with the woman she adored.

Concern flashed in her stepmother's blue eyes. She reached for her shy stepdaughter.

"Come child. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Cinderella wanted to say she wasn't afraid. She was unsure of what to do, embarrassed to be seen so naked without the security of blankets nearby. But not afraid.

"It's ok, sweetheart," Lady Tremaine said as she unbuttoned Cinderella's jeans. She pulled her sweatshirt over her head, then unhooked her bra.

"Come on, beautiful," she said, pulling Cinderella into the shower. Cinderella began to relax under the warm water. Her stepmother poured shampoo into her hair, lathering it up. Long fingers massaged her scalp, kneading the shampoo into her long blond hair. Her stepmother ran a washcloth over her back, then began washing her front. Long fingers caressed her breasts.

Cinderella wrapped her stepmother's arms around herself and sighed happily. She looked up at Lady Tremaine with a sweet smile.

"I'm so glad that I got to take you to the creek," Cinderella whispered hoarsely. In some way, taking her stepmother to her special place was more intimate, more personal, than giving her her virginity.

Cinderella kissed her stepmother's collarbone. Lady Tremaine kissed the top of her head. Cinderella kissed her breasts, sucking on each nipple. Her stepmother leaned back and half moaned, half sighed. Cinderella ran her fingers of the soft breasts, the erect nipples before kissing them again and down, down, down.

Cinderella kissed her way down her stepmother's tall body. She kissed each rib, covered her stomach with soft kisses, until she got between her legs. Cinderella had never kissed or sucked her stepmother here. She looked up with unsure dark eyes.

"You don't have to if you are uncomfortable," her stepmother said. But she wanted her to. It was clear as day in her bright blue eyes. And her clitoris was rock hard.

Cinderella shyly kissed the swollen clitoris, a sweet chaste kiss. She looked up into her stepmother's aroused blue eyes, then licked it softly. Her stepmother practically screamed. She kept one hand in Cinderella's hair, the other on the wall for support.

Cinderella smirked up at her, feeling more confident. She began to suck on her stepmother's clitoris, just as Lady Tremaine often sucked on hers. Her stepmother's hand kept a death grip on her hair as she moaned and groaned and then quickly came, just as the hot water gave out.

Lady Tremaine helped her stepdaughter up and kissed her hard, pinning her to the wall. Cinderella began to shiver in the cold water. Her stepmother turned it off and wrapped her in a thick sky blue towel. She took another towel and tousled her blond hair dry, then helped her into her pajamas. She pulled on her own pajamas and led Cinderella to bed

Cinderella curled up next to her stepmother, clinging to her arm. They lay there like that for a while. Lady Tremaine thought Cinderella had fallen asleep until she felt her slight weight stir beside her.

"Step-Eleanor?" Cinderella asked haltingly.

"Yes, angel?" Lady Tremaine replied, looking down at her.

"Um, would you read to me? I want to know what happens next."

Lady Tremaine smiled at her brilliant but exhausted stepdaughter. Since it was October, they were reading _The Turn of the Screw._

"Are you sure? You look exhausted."

Cinderella smiled up at her. "Well see I showed someone my secret place today, nobody else has ever been there. Then there was a shower…..but I am dying to know what happens next in our book."

Lady Tremaine smirked down at her. How nice it was to have someone who could comprehend and enjoy the books she read. Her own daughters certainly never did.

"All right, love. But just one chapter."

"Yes ma'am," Cinderella agreed, snuggling closer to her stepmother.

After the chapter was read, Cinderella was barely awake. She was trying, for she enjoyed the cuddle and chat time in bed with her stepmother very much. She tried to sit up, only to be gently but firmly pushed back down.

"Lie down, angel," her stepmother said gently. "My exhausted angel." She pushed Cinderella's head down to her chest, stroking her hair and back.

Cinderella kissed her wrist. "I love you," she whispered as she drifted off to sleep.

"I love you too, angel," her stepmother replied, kissing the fair head and tightening her grip around the thin body. She held and caressed her stepdaughter long after she had fallen asleep. "My angel," she said to nobody in particular, looking down at the girl asleep in her arms. "Nobody is ever going to hurt you ever again."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The sky was on fire the next morning. Lady Tremaine had never seen anything like it. It was if the sun exploded, the sky brilliant, blinding red and orange. A willowy, windblown girl was out on the balcony, shivering in the wind. The red reflection in her blond hair made her ten times more beautiful.

Unaware that her stepmother was watching her, Cinderella pulled her bathrobe around herself and leaned over the railing. She loved the early morning hours when nobody else was around. It had always been her special time. The sunlight sparkled in her blond hair, giving her red and orange highlights.

That has got to be the most beautiful girl in the whole kingdom, Lady Tremaine thought.

She glided out to the balcony and nearly gave Cinderella a heart attack when she opened the door.

"Morning, angel," Lady Tremaine smirked at her as she came outside.

She wrapped her arms around Cinderella from behind, cuddling her tight. Cinderella hugged her stepmother's arm, then leaned back into her, happy to be completely enveloped. Lady Tremaine wrapped her leopard print bathrobe around her shivering stepdaughter, holding her close against her body.

"You're so cold," Lady Tremaine said, tightening her grip around the thin body. "How long have you been out here?"

Cinderella shrugged. "Ten minutes, maybe. I wanted to see the sunrise without waking you up."

Her stepmother took her thin hands in her own. "Let's go inside. Your hands are like ice."

Cinderella let her stepmother take her hand and lead her back to bed, as if she were three. She cuddled against her stepmother, holding her tight. Lady Tremaine rubbed her hands up and down her back, trying to warm her up.

"Silly girl," she said. "Next time, view the sunrise through the window, all right? That way you won't die of hypothermia."

Cinderella giggled. "It's not the same. Sometimes, I used to-" she stopped, suddenly fearful.

"You used to what?" Cinderella could feel the sapphire eyes looking at the top of her head. It was if they could see into her soul. She sighed.

She looked up at her stepmother. "I used to walk down to the cliffs for wildflowers when the sun was rising, so we would have fresh flowers. You always seemed to like them, so I went as often as I could. I loved when the sky was on fire like this." She didn't add that she often fantasized Lady Tremaine was with her, holding her hand, sitting on the rock with her and hunting for the most beautiful flowers. It was when she started fantasizing about Lady Tremaine making love to her under a blazing red sky that she stopped going to get flowers so much.

Her stepmother glanced outside and smirked but didn't say anything. The sunrise was even more violent than before. Purple-grey clouds blew into and clashed with the red, making a violet explosion. Cinderella always got nervous when her stepmother got like this. She held Lady Tremaine's arm and ran her fingers up and down the leopard print bathrobe.

"I have always loved this bathrobe on you," Cinderella said to change the subject.

"Oh?" Lady Tremaine asked. "And why is that?"

Cinderella blushed. "Well, because you look so… so…." She struggled to find the word.

"So what?" her stepmother teased. "Say it."

The word _fuckable_ floated through Cinderella's mind and she blushed even more furiously. She was not ready to say such a thing to her stepmother.

"So beautiful," she whispered. "You just look incredible in it."

Lady Tremaine looked doubtful of this conclusion but she only smiled.

Ella was sure her stepmother could read her mind. "Are you ready for breakfast?" she asked. "I have fruit and tea ready." Her stepmother never ate much at breakfast.

She uncovered the tray and carefully lay it on her stepmother's lap. Lady Tremaine smiled at the sweetness of her stepdaughter. Apples formed the I, a halved strawberry the heart and pears the You. Ella spelled out _I love you_ on her stepmother's breakfast tray.

"And I love you," she said to her blushing stepdaughter. She set the tray aside and pulled Ella into her arms. She kissed her harder than she usually did, almost a bite. She yanked Ella's pajamas off her and threw them on the floor. Ella reached out to untie the leopard print bathrobe but her stepmother grabbed her hands. She gently but firmly pushed her back on to the bed and lay full on top of her. She pinned her stepdaughter's hands above her head.

"Ah my love," she whispered in her ear, "we both know what you wanted to say about me in this bathrobe, do we not? Say it now."

She kissed her stepdaughter's pale neck, who was trembling from a mix of cold and laying in her underwear beneath her still clothed stepmother.

"Say it, Ella," she hissed as she dragged her teeth against her stepdaughter's neck, nearly hard enough to make Ella cry out. She kissed the marks her teeth made. Ella thought every drop of blood in her body was in her clitoris.

"So fuckable," Ella said softly. Her stepmother looked into her eyes and smiled. Ella didn't like that smile. It as predatory, as if she was going to be her stepmother's next meal.

"So fuckable," her stepmother repeated. "Yes, I am quite fuckable, aren't I?"

Cinderella didn't trust herself to reply. Lady Tremaine kissed her hard. Her tongue slipped into Ella's mouth as her hands tightened around Ella's thin wrists. Ella kissed her back as hard as she could. She tried to free her hands but her stepmother was having none of that.

"Oh I don't think so," she smirked. She held Ella's hands with one of her own and untied her bathrobe with the other. She pulled the fabric belt through the loops and tied it tightly around Ella's hands. Then she tied the ends to the bed rails.

"That's better. Now I have use of my hands," she smirked as she ran her fingernails up and down her stepdaughter's ribcage. Her bathrobe flapped open around her.

She kissed Ella again, not as hard as before but with the same intensity. She wrapped her bathrobe around herself and therefore around Ella. She leaned up so her breasts dangled down in front of Ella. Ella leaned up and kissed the left, then the right. She sucked on them as hard as she dared. When she bit the ends gently Lady Tremaine groaned.

Long fingers reached into her underwear. One finger rested on her swollen clitoris as the rest ripped her underwear off. Cinderella moaned as one finger flitted inside of her. Cinderella looked into her stepmother's blue eyes with a mix of fear and arousal. She couldn't help wincing as another finger flittered inside of her.

Lady Tremaine withdrew her fingers. She smirked down at her stepdaughter as she lined herself up. Clit on clit. She held Cinderella's hands and thrust. The bathrobe covered them both like a tent. Cinderella's eyes jumped from her stepmother's breasts to her eyes.

Lady Tremaine thrust harder than she ever had before. She wrapped her legs around Cinderella's waist to keep their clitorises together. Cinderella tried to kiss her but every time her stepmother moved her head back out of reach. Then she would kiss her hard.

"I love you," Cinderella said hoarsely. She knew she wasn't supposed to speak, but the words came out of her unbidden.

"And I love you," Lady Tremaine whispered back as she ground her hips against her.

Lady Tremaine moaned and gasped and came. She collapsed on her stepdaughter and kissed her neck.

"I love you," Cinderella said again.

"And I you," her stepmother panted. She untied her hands and kissed her arms. Cinderella clung to her. She leaned up and kissed her stepmother's beautiful cheekbones.

"Did you come?" her stepmother asked.

"Yes," Ella said at once.

"Liar," Lady Tremaine snorted. "Don't you know I have always been able to tell when you're lying?"

Cinderella blushed. "Ok, I didn't come like you did, but it's ok."

"No, it's not," her stepmother retorted. She slid down Ella's body and began sucking on her still rock hard clitoris. There was no teasing this time. Lady Tremaine planted her lips over the swollen tissue and sucked firmly. Ella bucked and screamed and came within a few minutes.

"Now you have," she smirked as she crawled back up to the top of the bed.

Ella smiled up at her as her stepmother pulled her into her arms. "I love you," she said for the third time in half an hour.

Lady Tremaine caressed her back and kissed the fair head. She rested her hand between her stepdaughter's shoulder blades. The girl's heart was racing. She gave her a reassuring smile and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. Cinderella smiled up at her.

"I love you too, angel," she said into her hair. She tightened her grip around the thin, shivering body. "So much. What a way to wake up!"

Cinderella giggled. Outside, the sunrise dissipated somewhat. Cinderella wondered if the violence of the sunrise had brought out the rough side of her stepmother.

"I could fall back asleep," Cinderella yawned. It was just after 8:00.

"Go ahead," her stepmother replied. "You've earned it." She loved watching Cinderella sleep. She was so innocent and angelic asleep, curled up in her stepmother's arms.

"I love you in that bathrobe," Ella whispered as she snuggled against her and drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ahhhhhh," Cinderella said later. She dragged Lady Tremaine outside in the leaves. "I love the leaves. I never minded raking them. Don't you just love the smell of fall?"

"I can't smell seasons, child," her stepmother replied dryly.

Cinderella giggled and dropped an armful in the trashcan. "You can at the creek. Want to go again tomorrow?"

Lady Tremaine looked at her stepdaughter. She was radiating happiness. "You are too adorable, you know that? But didn't we see your special place yesterday?"

"That's just a small part of it. The creek goes on for miles. It's breath taking this time of year."

Lady Tremaine looked towards the woods. Red and yellow leaves stood out brilliantly against a cloudless blue sky. She looked at her stepdaughter, who tilted her head to one side and smiled with false sadness.

"If we can get this yard raked."

They raked for a while. Cinderella was unusually quiet. She kept looking from the woods to the clear blue sky to her stepmother.

"What's wrong?" Lady Tremaine finally asked.

"Nothing," Cinderella replied. But she looked worried. The sky began to cloud up. Great grey-blue clouds glowed in the distance. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Come on," Lady Tremaine said. "It's going to rain."

Cinderella's color drained from her already pale face. "I don't like rain."

In her tower room, the rain always felt like it was getting in. It would pelt against the ceilings, the sides of the room, the windows. The window would howl like unholy spirts trying to get in. Cinderella almost always slept on the couch when it stormed.

They went to the sitting room. "You are white as a ghost, child. What's wrong?"

Cinderella looked away. The tower room was her old life. She didn't want to bring it up, not now when they were so happy together.

"Tell me, Now, Ella," her stepmother said sternly. The old authoritarian Lady Tremaine was back. Cinderella sighed. She told her everything. About the nightmares she would have during storms. About how sometimes the tower shook, about the demon like wind.

"That's why you would always find me sleeping on the couch during storms. Or in the-" she stopped abruptly. She didn't want to say the kitchen fireplace.

"Or the fireplace?" her stepmother remarked.

Ella looked at her, terrified. She didn't want to make her stepmother feel guilty for the past. Her stepmother looked knowing.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Ella shrugged. "I was-I didn't-It-"

Lady Tremaine looked at her sternly. Her blue eyes shot fire. "You can say it. You were scared."

Ella looked away. "I was scared. You didn't seem to mind that I slept on the couch or…anywhere else."

Lady Tremaine wrapped her arms around her trembling stepdaughter. "Those days are over. You still seem scared of me sometimes."

Ella smiled shakily. "I'm not scared of you. It's just…you can be intimidating sometimes."

Her stepmother laughed. She knew she still intimidated Cinderella but she was so much fun to toy with. She was so beautiful when she was scared. Lady Tremaine made her lie down, her head on her lap. She stroked her hair and rubbed her back. Soft perfume wafted through the air.

"Your little heart is racing. Is it me or the storm?"

It was both, actually. The memory of the rough sex at sunup was still fresh in her mind. Her stepmother hurt her during the sex, although she didn't think it was intentional. She still sore.

Cinderella smiled up at her stepmother. "One gets over things. It's not you."

Lady Tremaine doubted that. The violent sunrise led to her ravaging the girl. Now this violent thunderstorm made her want to protect her. Ella buried her face in her lap and shuddered with each clap of thunder. She knew she was too old to be afraid of thunder, of course, but it made her jump.

Her stepmother looked down at her through hooded eyes and smirked. She was really too adorable.

"Ella?" she said softly. "Are you asleep?"

"No," a muffled voice replied. "How could I be with all that racket out there?"

A clap of thunder exploded so loudly even Lady Tremaine jumped. Ella shrieked and grabbed her stepmother's hands.

"Come on," Lady Tremaine said. She pulled her shaken stepdaughter up and led her into her bedroom. She put on her leopard print bathrobe and lay down with Ella trembling in her arms. Ella giggled in spite of herself.

" _The_ bathrobe again?" she giggled. "What is it about violent weather that makes you want to-"

"Hush!" her stepmother snapped. "I put it on because it's cold in here."

It was cold. The wind blew mercilessly through every microscopic crook and cranny. Thick clouds painted the sky black as it rained nearly sidewise. Ella snuggled against her stepmother, her head on her chest. She was just happy to be safe and warm.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day, Cinderella awoke before her stepmother. The day was cold and blustery. emPerfect pancake weather/em, Cinderella thought. And perfect for something else she had in mind. She made a now rare trip to her former attic room. She pried up a loose floorboard and retrieved something. Then she scampered off to the kitchen. Her stepmother joined her in the kitchen to find her prancing around like she used to. Cooking, tea boiling, table set.

"Well, aren't we an early bird this morning?" Lady Tremaine smirked as she took her usual place at the head of the table. Cinderella blushed slightly to see her stepmother in her leopard print robe.

Cinderella giggled. "I'm making pancakes. Seemed like good weather for them. " She brought the pancakes over to the table and sat down beside her stepmother. "The water needs a few more minutes to boil."

"Is it not hot enough for tea now?" her stepmother inquired as she lifted a pancake on to her to her plate.

"The kettle isn't whistling yet. We don't have tea with unboiled, unwhistled water. We aren't cavemen," Cinderella replied.

Her stepmother snickered.

"Here, use your napkin," Cinderella suggested as she shoved it at Lady Tremaine rather aggressively. Her stepmother looked at her suspiciously. Cinderella gave her an innocent smile." Lady Tremaine unfolded the napkin and put it on her lap. She felt something very small and hard. Looking down, she saw a tiny ring with a single emerald in it on a golden chain.

She looked at Cinderella in astonishment.

"My mother gave me that just before she died," Cinderella told her speechless stepmother. "I want you to have it ."  
"Why?" her stepmother gasped. This was the first time in fifteen years Cinderella could recall Lady Tremaine being speechless.

"Cinderella blushed and looked away. Lady Tremaine gently cupped the girl's faced and forced her to look at her.

"Why, Ella?" she asked again./p

"Because...because I love you. I love you so, so much. I want to marry you. But since we can't get married legally, this is as close as I could think of."

They looked into each other's eyes for what felt like eons. Lady Tremaine stood up and turned off the burner under the tea kettle. She carefully fastened the chain around her neck as she walked back to the table.

She bent down and pulled Ella to her in a ferocious kiss. There was no sensual teasing this morning. Lady Tremaine demanded access to Ella's mouth and as soon as her angel yielded a fraction of an inch, her stepmother slid her tongue in. She caressed her stepdaughter's tongue with her own. Ella pulled away and smiled up at her beautiful stepmother. "Is that a yes?

"God damn right it is," her stepmother said. She swept the dishes off the table with one sweep of her arm, yanked Ella up and pushed her back on to the table.

She kissed her hard again. Ella reached down to untie the leopard print robe and slid it off Lady Tremaine's shoulders. Her stepmother held her up as she kissed her neck. She planted soft open mouth kisses down her stepmother's neck to her collarbone. Her stepmother reached under her dress./p

"Feel how wet you make me, Stepmother," Ella whispered. "Feel how much I love you."/p

Lady Tremaine hovered over her, balancing herself on both forearms. The ring on the chain dangled between her breasts. Ella reached up and stroked both breasts at the same time. She rolled the nipples between her fingers to bring them to a peak.

Her stepmother began to stroke Ella's erect clitoris. Ella moaned. Lady Tremaine slipped to fingers into Ella's soaking wet vagina while keeping her thumb on her pulsing clitoris./p

Ella's eyes widened in surprise and pain and pleasure as she whimpered. She looked into the blue eyes of her goddess. Her goddess smirked back and kissed the side of her head. But this time she did not remove her fingers like she usually did. Ella gasped in pain but also pleasure as her stepmother pressed her clit harder.

"I love you," Cinderella murmured into Lady Tremaine's ear.

'And I you," her stepmother panted as she thrust her fingers even deeper. Cinderella dug her nails into her stepmother's back. Lady Tremaine kissed her throat. Ella bucked beneath her, nearly lifting herself off the table. She buried her face in the crook of her lover's neck as she shook and bucked and came./p

Her stepmother lay on top of her, out of breath. She held Cinderella's head with one hand and her slipped the other under her back./p

"Is this a yes?" Cinderella teased./p

Lady Tremaine kissed her the side of her head several times. "Of course it is, Ella."/p

Ella smiled up at her worn out stepmother. "I love you. I can't wait to spend my whole life with you!"


End file.
